[Birdtalk] Brow-capped Rosy-Finch musings

[Bryant Olsen]

 I agree that the La Sal Mnts. and Southeastern Utah are pretty neglected and I too have a lot of questions about bird distribution in that part of the state. I have seen Gray Jays in the La Sal's , and it makes me wonder how many other subalpine-alpine species are there. From the crest of the range you can look right across the Colorado border at the lofty hights of the San Juan Mnts., one of the largest chunks of alpine tundra and mountain forests south of Canada, and its only a short flight for any bird(50 miles tops). A very isolated population of Pika live in the La Sal's, the only one in SE Utah, and they can't even fly. Of course the mother of all alpine birds, the White-Tailed Ptarmigan, are abundant in the San Juans, so its OK to fanticize about seeing one in the Las Sals isn't it? I know I have. Brown-capped Rosey Finch seem a good canidate too. I have heard other reports of birds down in the canyon country that intrige me. Apparently Gambel's
 Quail at least used to occur as far north as Green River, but may have died off? Are there any NATIVE Turkey in the Ponderosa Pine forests. What about the status of Raptors. Do or do not Ferruginous Hawk nest there. the habitat seems to exist, but I can find no nesting record anywere.Same goes for Northern Harriers and Long and Short Eared Owls. Its amazing that a place with more National Parks and Monuments than anywere else in the country, if not the world, could hold so many mysteries. I would definatly like to see more birding reports come from down there. Count me in Tim
Bryant Olsen

--- On Mon, 12/22/08, Tim Avery <western.tanager at gmail.com> wrote:
From: Tim Avery <western.tanager at gmail.com>
Subject: [Birdtalk] Brow-capped Rosy-Finch musings
To: birdtalk at utahbirds.org
Date: Monday, December 22, 2008, 11:07 AM

The sighting of multiple Brown-capped Rosy-Finches in Moab this month got me thinking more about the actual occurrence of this species in Utah.  Despite the fact that this will be the 1st accepted sighting of this species in state, it has been pondered by I am sure many, whether or not this species may actually breed in southeast Utah and to what extent is their winter range into lower elevations in this part of the state?  Coverage of this enormous southeast area as always seems to be the biggest problem.  There aren't nearly enough birders to adequately cover such a large area, and there isn't as much draw to bring birders from northern Utah down to this area, as there is to southwest Utah.  Lu Giddings over the past several years has done an enormous service to birding in San Juan County by making his outings and conducting the first Bluff CBC, etc.  And Chuck LaRue over the years has contributed quite a bit in his studies of birds in the
 region.  But outside of this, the average birder doesn't make it to this area often, and the unique placement in the state means that there are probably a number of species going un-noticed in this area. 


Scaled Quail, Canyon Towhee, Hepatic Tanager, Olive Warbler, Sprague's Pipit, Mountain Plover, Longspur's, etc.  There are a number of species which very likely may inhabit or migrate through this area that simply go unnoticed.  The Rosy-Finches are a great example, and lead me to the point of this email.  In the past few years in Wyoming there have been "surveys" to locate nesting Brow-capped in the Snowy range in southeastern Wyoming.  Nests have been successfully found in the area, and this makes me think this could be an interesting outing in Utah.  Why not plan a late June or early July outing to the La Sal Mountains for a weekend to search out nests for this species?  With peaks over 12,000' feet isolated  and surrounded by desert, the rocky crags above treeline provide what would seem like adequate habitat for this species to nest.  This would be the perfect opportunity for northern Utah birders and birding groups, along with DWR, and the
 local Moab Audubon Society to get together and not only do something for citizen science, but to also connect this isolated area with the rest of the state.  Besides searching for this species, general bird distribution in the La Sals seems to be a bit of a mystery.  Paul Lehman actually asked this question last year at the ABA conference, curious about the distribution of high-elevation conifer residents such as crossbills, Evening Grosbeak, American Three-toed Woodpecker, etc., because in most field guides it is sort of a "black hole".


With this said is there any interest from Utah birders to do such a "research trip"?  I am more than willing to try and put something together, with the help of anyone interested, as I believe this would not only be a fun trip, but also could contribute quite a bit to science for this area of the state!


Not to mention, I wouldn't mind getting Brown-capped Rosy-Finch in Utah ;)

So, any thoughts or interest?

Good Birding

Tim

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